Having successful, meaningful, profitable marketing strategies is something that a lot of companies struggle to do. There is a very delicate balance between too much and too little when it comes to touch points with a consumer.
It takes the right mix of talented, creative people who have a deeper knowledge of a product or service to be able to craft a message that will stick with customers.
Regardless of the size of your business, marketing does and can work. Here are some of the latest trends to follow:
- Mass markets are turning into niche markets. Consumers are ever-present in their buyer decision-making process. With access to all of the most advanced technologies, people know that options are endless and they won’t stop until they get what they want. In order to be profitable and maintain a competitive edge, businesses have to suit the needs of the individual consumer, or someone else will. Everything is customizable and it is the companies who have the most diverse, tailored products to offer that will appeal to an insatiable market.
- Mobile Marketing is taking us by storm. People are spending vastly increasing amounts of time on their smart phones and the percentage of phone carriers with a smart phone is surpassing 50 percent. Content and applications are getting richer and more interactive, pulling technology users into their phones and away from face-to-face interaction. In addition to QR codes and Facebook advertisements, companies are getting more involved in the mobile marketing process and embedding their message inside the most popular widely-used applications. Utilizing geolocation has also begun to offer the ability to hyper-target certain areas and hone in on particular markets to offer products that are literally steps away from the consumer. Marketers are making enticing deals harder and harder to pass up.
- Social media monitoring tools are getting serious usage. Gone are the days when marketing word of mouth meant a hand-written letter to a company from a disgruntled customer. Today, companies are able to watch, develop and change their brand in real time by using the latest and greatest monitoring tools. These tools are able to scour the Internet blogs and social media for brand mentions and conversations. They are able to respond to inquiries, dissatisfaction or praise on the spot and stay involved in every ad and all conversations regarding the image of their products.
What does this mean for your business?
It is true that varying levels of marketing are effective for organizations of different sizes. But these recent trends are here to stay and they reflect the age-old saying “customer is king.” The way to keep up with competition is by tailoring your product or service offerings, customizable to individual customers because they know that if you don’t, they can find it somewhere else. No matter how present you are in the social-sphere, it is always helpful to at least gain insight about your brand perception and keep customers satisfied and involved. Keeping a finger on this very important pulse could be easily achieved through social media monitoring. Stay on top of the relevant trends for your industry and do what you can to engage, surprise and deliver the very best.